I used to live in a condo building directly across the street from El Palo Alto. Walked by it every morning. Like the article says, it's in a small park right next to the Caltrain tracks, and you probably wouldn't take notice of it unless you already knew about it. I didn't know a lot of the history that this article provided, though... I love the thought of a >1k year old living thing just standing there inconspicuously.
I live right next to this tree. Interestingly, the city of Palo alto also has some electrical plumbing attached to this tree. Not sure if it's for the tree's health or just some connections for the nextdoor train tracks.
The Seattle Times appears to host a copy of the same article without a paywall (at least I'm not getting one):<p><a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/the-unlikely-survival-of-the-1081-year-old-tree-that-gave-palo-alto-its-name/" rel="nofollow">https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/the-unlikely-survi...</a>
I grew up on the East Coast, so my first trip to Big Basin Redwoods State Park [0] was awe-inspiring. I'm glad to see this tree surviving so far from its preferred environment.<p>[0] <a href="http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=540" rel="nofollow">http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=540</a>